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Using Technology with Preschoolers

By Joye Smith on March 01, 2018

The preschoolers we teach today are called digital natives because they are growing up using technology. They know which apps are their games or stories on mom or dad’s phone. They swipe a tablet to read a preschool book, and they turn on the audio to hear the book being read to them. Technology is part of their everyday lives. How do we incorporate the use of technology in our Mission Friends classes?

Use suggestions that are occasionally given in Mission Friends Leader for Internet references related to the month’s missions area, such as pictures of the Amazon or plants of Romania. Always view the websites beforehand. Bookmark the site to pull it up easily in your Mission Friends session.

If your Mission Friends classroom does not have Internet access, visit a website beforehand and take a screenshot of a page or download pictures to your device. Show these later in your Mission Friends session.

A word about websites and video sites: Keep preschoolers safe by viewing beforehand for content. Be aware of the ads and places for public comments on the site. Make sure these are appropriate and not offensive. Always monitor when preschoolers view websites.

When showing photos or images on a laptop or tablet, ask preschoolers questions to share their observations about the image. Ask: What is interesting to you about this picture? Do you see something different in this picture?

Use a voice message app on a phone or tablet to record your preschoolers when learning words in another language in Mission Friends. Play the recording for your preschoolers to hear.

Use the camera on your phone or tablet to take photos or video of preschoolers during Mission Friends sessions. Always have parental permission before posting photos on social media or websites.

Take photos of preschoolers’ artwork to make a scrolling slide show for parents to view.

Have preschoolers dictate a short email message to send to a featured missionary. Contact information is frequently provided on the Meet the Missionaries pages in Mission Friends Leader.

Use items available in Free Downloads on the Mission Friends website. Download the Mission Friends song and have a sing-along. Download the free storybooks to an ebook app for preschoolers to read, or print the pages to make into paper books for your classroom.

If you are not comfortable with technology, ask a parent of a preschooler to do these things for your class. Use their areas of knowledge about the digital world, and this involves them in their preschoolers’ missions experiences, too.